Disclaimer: The views expressed in this web log are the personal opinions of Ian D Smith, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the staff or members of the Official Lord of the Rings fan club. Beach Moot

The day started early, if not bright. Our rooms occupants were all off on separate quest.. mission.. things! Icarus was up and about first, escorting Desert Elf who was going to collect board moderator Nan (Rosie) from the airport. Primula soon followed, leaving for a look round Hollywood with Holbytla, Ithilien, Samwise Arandel and others. Pip and I joined the gang shown here (left) for breakfast in the hotel. It was quite a noisy session! Breakfast was followed by a girlie make-up session in Room 603 (Val is a professional make-up artist - do you call them artists?!) and I eventually joined them, despite repeated threats to paint my nails or make-up my face. The Beach Moot had been planned after we had not got around to taking Nan (Rosie) to "see the sea" on the March trip. Venice Beach was the venue and it was windy, overcast and surprisingly cold. Although busy with tourists and interesting little kiosks, there was something quite unsavoury about the whole area, and it came across to me as being incredibly like someone had taken a run-down British Council Estate and simply added a few palm trees, some truckloads of sand and rather dodgy stalls! I think it was Prim who said "The sort of place to visit once - but I can't imagine why anyone would want to come back a second time". Quite! Those of us staying at The Hollywood Inn who'd arrived last night first gathered in the lobby (left back row: the author (Irascian), Ithilien, Deliz, Silver, Samwise Arandel, Sierra, Icarus, Rosie, Holbytla; front row: Pippin's Scarf, Valkyrie Crush, Angry Pixie, Primula) and then headed off, following Pixie's clearly marked car (see photo below!) In the words of the immortal bard "Not all who wander are lost" but we were, having parked the cars and headed off in the wrong direction. We did reach our destination eventually - about an hour later than planned, where others had gathered. After a quick paddle and bite to eat, it was time to return to the hotel to start the preparations for the evening's pub moot with 85 planned attendees. Hover mouse over pictures below for explanatory text. Pub Moot report follows immediately below the Beach Moot photos

Pub Moot
WARNING: This is going to be a mite controversial (and VERY soap-boxy!) The taxi ride from the hotel was "an adventure" with the driver more interested in trying to set up a GPS system and give directions to a colleague, than actually drive safely. However, we got to the venue eventually, to find a long queue for food but an air of excitement and loud chatter all around. The tireless Primula was on the door, working on checking people in and handing out name badges to the 70+ participants that had pre-registered for the event. After collecting my name badge, I had a difficult decision to make - whether to join friends sitting on the stage floor to eat my meal, or whether to take the much more comfortable chair someone had kept reserved for me. I am slightly ashamed to say I chose comfort over loyalty, but eventually joined friends on the stage floor when most of the eating was out the way. The main part of the evening was just about good food, drink and friendship with a little raffle/awards ceremony as the closing highlight. Prizes were, for the most part, donated by the fan club owners Decipher, to whom I should extend thanks for the Czeckoslavkian (I think!) trading card game booster packs I won! A special award was made to Dan Madsen - president and sort of unofficial royal figurehead for the fan club as far as most of us are concerned, who received the "Sting" blade that his fiancé Karen (DesertElf) had tipped us off he wanted. Dan made a wonderfully personal and touching speech about the fan club and his experiences of it, although I think the decision to make him then read the poem Primula had written to describe our love for him was misguided - this really should have been done by the presenter of the award, not the recipient, to avoid embarrassing him. Lithilien presented boards moderator Amy (Primula) with a framed copy of a poem she had written for the movie's film composer Howard Shore, together with a photo of her meeting with him at The One party oscar awards, and a letter from Howard explaining how touched he was by the poem and how it was hanging framed in his study at home. Jason (Icarus) was presented with a special "Stalker" award, comprising a framed ladle - an in joke for regular participants of the fan club's "off topic" forum board, The Prancing Pony. Nan (Rosie), considered by most (including me), to be the best thing about the fan club received a special 'You're a star' mock-oscar award for her tireless hard work and dedication as moderator on the boards. Another moderator also received a mock-oscar award inscribed with the words 'Irascian, our beloved O.B.P.'. He tried to convince the assembled fans that O.B.P. stood for Official Board Purist rather then Official Board Poof, as had been implied in presenting him with the award, but nobody was having any of it so he eventually had to 'fess up ;-) With the awards out the way, various other goodies were handed out to the crowd and then the evening started to wind down. With no sign of the hoped-for band or dancing, the party I was with decided to adjourn to the "Powerhouse", what the Americans call a "dive bar" just down the road from our hotel. With endless punk anthems from 1977 blaring out, and good company to boot the day ended on something of a high for me, although I regretted the late night 4 hours later when I had to get up for the DVD viewing party and Bowl Moot that had been planned for Saturday. So where next? There were, unfortunately, some hard-hitting criticisms of this event by a minority of attendees. In a fan club with so many diverse personalities (and egos!) we need to be very careful about how we communicate with our members and how we deal with complaints. What concerns me is that the complaints raised were being treated as "political" complaints, and summarily dismissed for that reason. For my part, it is extremely frustrating to know how much hard work has been put into an event and how much crap has been dealt with for little or no thanks, only to then hear people complaining about everything. But it is equally frustrating to hear people complaining they feel "ripped off" and won't attend a fan club pub moot event again! If I had to write a "Lessons Learned" from this event and some discussions I had with those involved in organising many of the events that have taken place over the last week, it would be that a person organising an event needs help from others to deal with the many issues that come up, that over-selling of the event can only lead to disappointment, and that last-minute changes, especially where they contradict earlier announcements, need to be worded very carefully if they're not to cause offence. Ultimately, the fan club needs its own committee to cope with events like this, since Decipher are really only concerned with events that generate a real profit. It is unfair (and also dangerous) to make any one volunteer individual responsible for everything! Enough said! Click here for August 10th Web Log, covering the DVD Viewing party, the Bowl Moot and the Howard Shore concert Bill (Sauron's Truss) announces some raffle prize winners		Desert Elf, organiser of hotel rooms for The Fellowship of 22 16 of the original Fellowship of 22 pose on the balcony Some of the Torn folks (Calisuri on the left with Amy, Asfaloth and her husband, and then Robert and Quickbeam on the end). With Val's help, I try to immitate Val's recent body piercings with the aid of a napkin and Val's earrings "Delicious" Amy, who I met at Comic-Con, and one of the most fun people I've met this trip Fan club president Dan Madsen and his fiancee Karen Stettner (Desert Elf) Board moderator Nan (Rosie) submits her entry for the next fan club caption competition Board moderator Primula receives a framed letter from composer Howard Shore, which is presented by Lithilien Three award winners: myself ('Our beloved Official Board Poof'), Jason (Icarus) with his "ladle" award and fellow moderator Nan (Rosie) with her "star" award. AngryPixie, Pippin's Scarf and Valkyrie Crush tell Bowlmoot organiser Josh which part of his anatomy they think is 'nice'. I couldn't possibly comment! Brett (Baron of Bar Ereg) hands out raffle prize posters Dan reads a poem from Primula after being presented with 'Sting' by fanclub members Dabney, Jen (LadyOBloom), Peggy (Sierra), Jason (Icarus) and Anna (Anaabanana) Holbytla, Lithilien and Goldilocks Brownlock